Mail-transfer device.



PATENTED Nov. 19, 1907.

H. B. BURKE. MAIL TRANSFER DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8, 1906.

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HENRY B. BURKE, OF WINDBER, PENNSYLVANIA.

MAIL-TRANSFER DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented NOV. 19, 1907.

Application iledNOveinber 8, 1906. Serial No. 342.481.

To aZZ'whofm it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY B. BURKE, a'citizen of the United States of America, residing at Windber, in the county of Somerset and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Transfer Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in mail transfer devices, and the invention has for its object the provision of novel means for delivering a mail pouch or bag to a moving train or car.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive mail transferring` device, which will insure perfect safety of the mail, while being transferred, and also of the persons ytransferring the same.

' The invention consists in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts to be `hereinafter more fully described, and then-specifically claimed.

Referring to the drawings forming a part of this application, like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the different views, in which:-

. Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of` a mail transferring device constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device, also partly broken away. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the trolley member of the device. Fig. 4 is an edge view of the same. Fig. 5 is a detailed sectional view of a part of the side of a car, showing in plan view a catch arm employed for engagement with the trolley of the mail transferring device. Fig. 6 is a detailed side elevation of a part of the catching arm.

To putmy invention into practice, I provide two bridges or towers 1 and 2 which span the tracks 3 of the railroad. These bridges or towers are, in practice, located a considerable distance apart, and journaled ineach bridge or tower at the top thereof, is a shaft 4. Mounted -centrally of the end of each shaft 4, is a bell crank, the arms 5 ofthe two bell cranks being connected together by a cable 7, and the arms 6 of which bell cranks are connected together by a cable 8, the latter constituting a track for a trolley, as will hereinafter more fully appear. The end of each shaft 4, at each bridge, is

provided with cross-arms 9, these cross-arms carrying depending operating cables 10.

Upon the cable S, which constitutes the track, is mounted a ltrolley 11 comprising the grooved trolley wheel 12 to travel on the cable 8, and a depending hanger having bends 14 and 15, to receive, or be engaged by a catcher-arm carried by the car. The hanger is' provided or formed. at its lower end with a hook 14 on which the mail -bag is suspended. The hanger of the trolley is preferably constructed of one piece of metal, bent to house the trolley wheel 12as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings.

A catcher-arm is provided on the car to engage with the trolley and carry same along on the track while the mail bag 1s being transferred from the trolley to the car, and

diate its ends to form an offset 2O vfor cngagement with the bent Aportion 15, or the bent portion 14, accordingly to the direction in which the car is moving.

In operation, wc will assume that the car is moving from left to right of the device as shown in Fig. 1. The attendant in the car swings the arm 1S outwardly so as to be in position to engage the bend 15 of the hanger, and the mail ba(T having previously been placed on the hool 14 of the hanger by the attendant at the station, the said mail bag is carried along, until the attendant in the car has sufficient time to remove the same from the hook 14, and place thereon, if desired, a mail bag from the car. The attendant then releases arm 1S by forcing it outwardly and thus disengage's it from the hanger of the trolley, and as soon as the attendant at the station where the transfer is being made observes that the catching arm had been released, the said attendant at the station hav-' ing positioned himself at the further tower in th edirection in which the train is moving, pulls down on the proper cable 10, and, through the medium of cross-arms S), shafts 4, arms 5, connecting cable '7, and arms 6, causes the cable or track 8 to be elevated carrying with it the trolley 11, out of the way of other passing trains. The catcher arm 18, after the train has passed the bridge or tower can then be swung within the car and removed ifdesired. By providing the two pintles on the end of this arm, the same may be reversed so as to be used on either side of the car.

It will be understood that the bends 14 and 15 in the hanger are merely sufficient to afford a seat for the catcher arm, and that the bend or offset 20 in the catcher arm is merely of sufficient size to enable the car attendant, upon the catcher arm engaging the hanger of the trolley, to maintain the catcher arm in such engagement without effort dur-l ing the time transfer of the mail bagsis being made and is readily disengaged by forcing the arm 18 outwardly.

It is of course understood that the bridges or towers are located a sufficient distance apart to permit of the transfer of the mail bags being made, and that when the device is used, the trolley 11 will be located at the end of the device near the approaching train or car.

It is obvious, that in lieu of one of the tower.

bridges or towers illustrated, I may employ the ordinary signaling tower, in connection with one of the bridges and connect 'the cables between said bridge and thesignaling It is further obvious that where the device is used on a four-track system, the

shafts 4 will be equipped with double sets of crank arms to facilitate the transfer from trains moving in-both directions on the different tracks. f

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a mail transferring device, the combina- HENRY B. BURKE. Witnesses J. E. MCMULLEN, S. A. PATTERSON. 

